I agree, lovely! Read it when I was a teenager and it blew me away. Sobbed for days at the ending. Set me off on a Steinbeck thing and read all his books by the time I was 20. My favourite is Travels with Charlie, which is an autobiographical book about him going around America with his dog. His descriptions of the country are beautiful – the sea of Cortez, giant redwoods, being in the eye of a storm. Luscious.

And, the play really made me think. The book was published a couple of years after the depression began. It must've been such a political act, telling a story like that while hundreds of thousands were starving in shanty towns. And it was beautifully acted – I sort of didn't want to go, just in case it was shite! A bit like seeing Stevie Wonder! If it was am-dram bollocks, maybe it would sully my whole view. But the acting was really good and it just made me remember how I felt when I first read it.

And H, we are going to go back next year, we have the bug, for the theatre and the area. Thank you so much for telling me about it. The stormy picture of the cliff was taken from the Minack, looking across Porthcurno beach. My big boy has his GCSEs in May so it will be a good antidote to post revision madness. And I might get a kayak too but that's another story...

I feel it is sort of what we bought the camper for – I know being outdoors all weathers isn't everyone's cup of tea but it is magic watching the night fall over the sea, with nature coming to life all around you. We've never really been sunseekers – too pastey for that. So the wild west suits us fine.

Yes, I agree about The Pearl. Beautiful. And as for Cannery Row and Tortilla Flat, Doc and Danny are probably my favourite Steinbeck characters. Always wanted to go to Monterey because of that.

Really, this whole thread has taken me back to my teenage years in so many ways. You're sitting with folk, discussing nature and literature, the beauty of the sea and Steinbeck, and the boy you're sitting next to starts talking about pussy! It's 1984, I'm right back there, my youth, wrapped up in a nutshell... It's the poetry and the contradiction that makes me like your music so. x

Thanks for trying to find it, fellas. I'll track it down eventually maybe.

Poppy, if you're interested, you know what's a good idea for that sometimes? Less, not more. If you're down, just give me a shout anytime with ideas or subjects that interest you, and I'd be happy to recommend some short stories or essays. Smaller chunks, but still very satisfying. It is what I do. xo